what do you think of this tour?

It has become more difficult to find comments from those who take tours with Tauck; not sure why, since they are typically great. Has anyone taken this tour and can you give us some thoughts, pointers, etc.? Appreciate comments first from non tauck employees. thanks.

Comments

You posted your question in the correct category, so you must have seen all the posts below yours. I did this tour 2 years ago and it's one of my favorites. Great history, great architecture. Is there something specific you are looking for?

We are wondering about the activities on the tour. Are they focused mostly around architecture, and the historical reviews? We noted that there are some musical interludes, etc. , and we prefer variety. We have taken other tours and enjoyed the music, cooking activities, etc.
How are those activities, perhaps compared to other tours? Tauck just gave me an excellent overview by phone of the day to day travel. Thanks for your quick reply.

Took this tour a couple of years ago and was also one of our favorites. The music parts were wonderful. We arrived at least a day early in Warsaw and took a Viator cooking and vodka tasting class which was excellent.
Architecture, museums, beautiful countryside, visit to Auschwitz. Can’t compare this tour to any others we have taken, we find most of the tours as unique as are the countries we visit. Our tour director, Larry was one of the best ever .

There were two music activities. Chopin in Warsaw and Mozart/Strauss in Vienna. The chamber orchestra in Vienna performed a private concert for us in one of the Habsburg palaces, in the very room that 6 year old Wolfie Mozart first performed for Maria-Theresa. That's the kind of stuff you get on this trip. Krakow was a complete surprise in that it's a well-preserved medieval city, similar to Prague, but less touristy. Walked by the university where Copernicus taught (and his statue is out front). A visit to the Schindler factory, which looked exactly like it did in the movie, except for the name over the archway. And so on.

We, too, had a fabulous tour guide named Stephen. It's funny that my first impression of him was what are we getting here, as he's an American his 60s and a little disheveled in appearance, but his knowledge of the area was amazing. He was my favorite TD of any trip.

You might also want to review the subcategory for the Jewish heritage tour of this area. While there are some differences, the trips are similar, going to the same cities.

We went on this tour in 2011 and also had Stephen as our guide. His knowledge of the countries we visited is superb. When I think back there are some many little things about the tour that stand out. We had wonderful pirogies sitting at an outdoor table at a restaurant just up the street from the hotel in Warsaw. The guest speaker at our lunch in Bratislava was the writer of the Rick Steves guidebook for the area.

At the top of the list was the final dinner at the Lobkowicz Palace in Prague. The Lobkowicz family descends from a long line of princes who were associated with the Hapsburgs. They were driven out of the county first by the Germans and then by the Communists. After the fall of Communism, the family had a limited time to apply to get their property back. I think the grandfather was deceased and the father was not interested. One of the sons who grew up in the US and attended Harvard returned to the Czech Republic in 1990 and worked to regain the lost property.

We were able to speak with William Lobkowicz to understand what life is like the Prague in comparison with growing up in the US.

Before dinner we were given an audio guide and were able to tour their museum where we learned a lot about Czech history. An ancestor brought the Infant of Prague statue from Spain. They have one of the five remaining Breugel paintings of the seasons. They also have a score that was composed by Beethoven and was to be given to Napoleon until they had a falling out. You can see the dedication to Napoleon crossed out with the Lobkowicz name inserted in its place.

We did not go on a Jewish heritage tour but rather one that had a people with various backgrounds. We had a choice of options that permitted you to decide on a daily basis what you would like to see. As a result, I met people from different backgrounds who taught me things that I would never had learned. One couple found her grandfather's store in Vienna as well as his grave. She taught me to look at the forgotten children from a different perspective. A couple from Australia gave us history about the refurbished box car at Auschwicz that was financed by an Australian whose relative had died in the camp.

This is a very rich tour that is not limited to looking at churches and buildings. You get to really understand the people of the area and the way they were impacted by the Second World War and the Communists.

When we visited the Lobkowicz Palace in 2017, William's daughter was there, helping out. At that time, she was on her summer break from Boston College. Imagine the conversation around the dorm or sorority just prior to summer break:
What are you doing this summer?
I'll be staying at the family palace in Prague...

When we were in Prague, William's son was helping out. He was a big hockey fan....Bruins since they had lived in the Boston area. (The Bruins had just won the Stanley cup.) He was thrilled to learn that each member of the team that won the Stanley cup was able to bring the cup to his home town. I think it was Kreji who was Czech and the town was just outside of Prague. He convinced his father to take him to see the cup when it was nearby. I wonder if he is in Europe or if he went to college in the US and stayed here.

I just realized that the forums exist believe it or not! I have taken multiple Tauck tours and always blog every day when travelling. I use a Wordpress blog site which is not free...the ads are to help pay for the storage.

I hope to be more active going forward now that I know the forums exist :-)

and look forward to blogging every day on our Tauck tour of China in 6 weeks!

Unlike many other forums, you can upload photos from your computer directly to your forum post.

Also, note, the forum is a place for questions, answers, and sharing of Tauck tour-relevant info (It used to be known as "Ask & Share"). Photos can really help (a picture is worth . . ) but it is not intended to host travel blogs, though there have been a few exceptions.